5 ms·

Maybe something more noble than a social coding site? I doubt it. Github has a reputation problem. I wouldn't put anything sensitive on there, given the atti

Maybe something more noble than a social coding site? I doubt it. Github has a reputation problem. I wouldn't put anything sensitive on there, given the attitude github leadership showed about privacy ethics in the Julie Horvath incident.

pekk 11y ago
Even if you don't have anything against Github relating to the Horvath incident, there are other things like Github shutting down people's projects because they wrote a doc containing the word "retard." In other words, now they are in the business of regulating the content of open source projects (beyond obvious precautions like not hosting stolen credit card databases, child porn, etc.) They seem to think they're too big to fail.
- avinassh 11y ago
  They also removed [0] C Plus Equality [1] project twice. Even Bitbucket [2] and Google [3] also removed it. [0] - https://github.com/FeministSoftwareFoundation/C-plus-Equality https://github.com/FeministSoftwareFoundation/C-plus-Equalit... [1] - https://github.com/ErisBlastar/cplusequality https://github.com/ErisBlastar/cplusequality [2] - https://bitbucket.org/FeministSoftwareFoundation/c-plus-equality/ https://bitbucket.org/FeministSoftwareFoundation/c-plus-equa... [3] - https://code.google.com/p/c-plus-equality/ https://code.google.com/p/c-plus-equality/
  - x0 11y ago
    Good.
  - int_handler 11y ago
    What was the story behind this anyway? I am having a hard time determining whether this was actually serious or were trying to parody feminist activism.
    - smarx007 11y ago
      And what if it really was a parody? Just censor it?
    - sotojuan 11y ago
      It was a joke by 4chan's technology board, made to see if people would take it seriously (some did and even agreed with it!).
- pron 11y ago
  > now they are in the business of regulating the content of open source projects That is a very good thing. At this point in time we're beyond speculation. We have some good evidence about the direction online communities take with and without content moderation, and the serious players (most recently Reddit) have come to realize that top-down moderation is absolutely necessary. Fringe, unmoderated activity has a place, but it is outside mainstream platforms.
  - talmand 11y ago
    And who exactly gets to decide what is "fringe"?
    - pron 11y ago
      I guess that the majority gets to decide. It doesn't really matter what is mainstream and what isn't, as long as there's a place for both. Broadway and off-Broadway are both fine, but mixing them can cause confusion and for both audiences to be disappointed.
      - talmand 11y ago
        Ah, majority rules. Which is an excellent system, as long as you are in the majority. Hopefully the majority doesn't decide to remove what is not their agreeable mainstream.
        pron 11y ago
        I didn't say that the majority rules, just that the majority defines what is mainstream. If you want to run an open-source project that promotes misogynistic values, be our guest -- just don't do it on GitHub. I don't understand what the problem is. In anything -- from TV to theater, music, architecture and social clubs -- there is the mainstream and the fringe. Maybe one day, fringe ideas will become mainstream and maybe not, but as long as the fringe is fringe, it is usually not part of the mainstream. It's pretty much a tautology. The Wire was a superb TV show -- possibly the best -- but it just didn't belong on the broadcast channels. It wasn't censorship (not that I'm suggesting that sophomoric misogynistic jokes are anything like The Wire, but they have no place on GitHub).
- rmc 11y ago
  It's the "etc" that allows you to remove "retard".
- throwaway999888 11y ago
  "Regulating content" just meaning having some standards for what is hosted on their sites. GitHub is (or should be) just another Git hosting site/Web frontend/misc. integration with other software project's concern. It should be relatively simple to just choose another website. If we've gotten to the point of saying that they are 'regulating the content of open source projects', we've already failed by making GitHub too important.

pekk 11y ago

Even if you don't have anything against Github relating to the Horvath incident, there are other things like Github shutting down people's projects because they wrote a doc containing the word "retard." In other words, now they are in the business of regulating the content of open source projects (beyond obvious precautions like not hosting stolen credit card databases, child porn, etc.) They seem to think they're too big to fail.

avinassh 11y ago
They also removed [0] C Plus Equality [1] project twice. Even Bitbucket [2] and Google [3] also removed it. [0] - https://github.com/FeministSoftwareFoundation/C-plus-Equality https://github.com/FeministSoftwareFoundation/C-plus-Equalit... [1] - https://github.com/ErisBlastar/cplusequality https://github.com/ErisBlastar/cplusequality [2] - https://bitbucket.org/FeministSoftwareFoundation/c-plus-equality/ https://bitbucket.org/FeministSoftwareFoundation/c-plus-equa... [3] - https://code.google.com/p/c-plus-equality/ https://code.google.com/p/c-plus-equality/
- x0 11y ago
  Good.
- int_handler 11y ago
  What was the story behind this anyway? I am having a hard time determining whether this was actually serious or were trying to parody feminist activism.
  - smarx007 11y ago
    And what if it really was a parody? Just censor it?
  - sotojuan 11y ago
    It was a joke by 4chan's technology board, made to see if people would take it seriously (some did and even agreed with it!).
pron 11y ago
> now they are in the business of regulating the content of open source projects That is a very good thing. At this point in time we're beyond speculation. We have some good evidence about the direction online communities take with and without content moderation, and the serious players (most recently Reddit) have come to realize that top-down moderation is absolutely necessary. Fringe, unmoderated activity has a place, but it is outside mainstream platforms.
- talmand 11y ago
  And who exactly gets to decide what is "fringe"?
  - pron 11y ago
    I guess that the majority gets to decide. It doesn't really matter what is mainstream and what isn't, as long as there's a place for both. Broadway and off-Broadway are both fine, but mixing them can cause confusion and for both audiences to be disappointed.
    - talmand 11y ago
      Ah, majority rules. Which is an excellent system, as long as you are in the majority. Hopefully the majority doesn't decide to remove what is not their agreeable mainstream.
      - pron 11y ago
        I didn't say that the majority rules, just that the majority defines what is mainstream. If you want to run an open-source project that promotes misogynistic values, be our guest -- just don't do it on GitHub. I don't understand what the problem is. In anything -- from TV to theater, music, architecture and social clubs -- there is the mainstream and the fringe. Maybe one day, fringe ideas will become mainstream and maybe not, but as long as the fringe is fringe, it is usually not part of the mainstream. It's pretty much a tautology. The Wire was a superb TV show -- possibly the best -- but it just didn't belong on the broadcast channels. It wasn't censorship (not that I'm suggesting that sophomoric misogynistic jokes are anything like The Wire, but they have no place on GitHub).
rmc 11y ago
It's the "etc" that allows you to remove "retard".
throwaway999888 11y ago
"Regulating content" just meaning having some standards for what is hosted on their sites. GitHub is (or should be) just another Git hosting site/Web frontend/misc. integration with other software project's concern. It should be relatively simple to just choose another website. If we've gotten to the point of saying that they are 'regulating the content of open source projects', we've already failed by making GitHub too important.